To grow crops, it is important to have conditions that are conducive to plant development, both above and below the soil. For example, water, sun, and nutrients support healthy plant development.
Below the soil, it is important that conditions are conducive to plant root development. Hard, compacted soil can reduce or disrupt the growth of healthy roots.
To promote root development, a field may be plowed to loosen soil and attempt to remove compaction. However, plowing can create erosion, nutrient loss, release moisture and carbon dioxide from the soil. This release can compromise soil health, both short and long term, which can reduce productiveness and profitability of the soil plant development.
Strip tillage techniques have been developed that can reduce the volume of moisture, carbon dioxide or residue lost during plowing. Strip tillage involves one trip across the field plowing strips of land, as opposed to the entire field. Conventional and conservation tillage is currently a two-step process. For example, a field may first be plowed with a chisel plow, and then cultivated with a field cultivator. Both conventional and conservation tillage is a two pass system that exposes disturbed soil, creating a potentially high erosion environment as compared to strip tillage.